Zhenyu Ballad

[No transmigration, no rebirth, no System. Pure historical romance + two equally formidable leads + a long-planned scheme]

Ji Yaoqin, the Ninth Princess of the Great Yin, is willful and outrageous in public, but always calculating her next move in private.

She smashes an imperial gift of a zither and insults court officials, yet no one knows that

secret letters from her late mother’s former followers are hidden among the broken zither pieces, and that wine she splashes can reveal the presence of poison.

Yan Zhen, the Imperial Preceptor, is as cool and pure as jade, and always several steps ahead.

He teaches her the zither, yet weaves secret court messages into the tune “Qingshang.”

He makes her copy books, yet turns the annotations on every page into a deadly weapon aimed at the heart.

A palace coup forces these two sworn enemies into marriage.

On their wedding night, she smashes their nuptial cups. “Are you satisfied with this deal, Imperial Preceptor?”

He picks up the shards and pieces them together into a map. “My lady, do you know... this is the remnant of the Jiangnan resistance you’ve been searching for for five years?”

From then on, the two join forces as equals, turning the tide of court intrigues and composing a thrilling song of their own: “The Ballad of Zhen and Yu.”

[Set in an imaginary dynasty. No historical scrutiny, please.]